


What Lies in the Past

by HomeForImaginaryFriends



Series: KuroDai 2019 [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Magic, Demons, Historical Inaccuracy, Hurt No Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, M/M, Magic, Pre-Relationship, Reincarnation, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2020-03-02 06:03:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18805219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HomeForImaginaryFriends/pseuds/HomeForImaginaryFriends
Summary: Kuroo was a yokai with little trust for humans, even the one who rescued and cared for him when he was at deaths door.





	What Lies in the Past

**Author's Note:**

> KuroDai 2019  
> May 7th, Day 2: Immortality/Reincarnation

Kuroo wakes with a start, his surroundings unfamiliar and pain in his body throbbing in time with his quickened heartbeat.  His legs don’t want to support him as he tries to struggle to his feet, momentarily surprised that he was in his four legged form.  Memories flickered through his mind. There had been so much pain and blind panic, the hunters who had caught him clearly had done that before.  They had cut off his tail, his center of power before plunging a blade into his chest.

 

Dying had been hard but living through it had been excruciatingly painful as he came back to himself only to relive the experience once more.

 

Two lives taken just like that, Kuroo hadn’t even had time to scream as he died once more knowing he was only going to awake to be killed again and again.  His power taken from him by greedy humans until he could no longer live again.

 

But Kuroo had always been clever and he wasn’t about to let them do as they wished.  He had fought back, had to use his mind considering his body and power were practically useless at that time.  Shifting from one form to another had drained him of everything he had but he still managed to dart off into the dark forest.

 

And then?  Kuroo couldn’t answer.  He certainly wasn’t dead or dying, though his body was protesting any and all movements.  There was a tight bandage wrapped around his furry torso, right where the hunters had plunged their blade in and twisted, tearing his heart open to make sure he would truly die.  His split tail was nothing but two nubs, both physical and magical ones still needed time to grow properly. His body would heal extremely slow until then.

 

The hut Kuroo found himself in was small, he could see every corner of it from his vantage by the blazing fire.  The room was filled with the aroma of cooking fish and Kuroo eyed the sticks eagerly. He was also wrapped in a soft blanket on top of a bed made of hay, piled with worn blankets.

 

The door to the hut opened and Kuroo huddled further into the blanket, felt the fur all along his back raise.  The pain wasn’t forgotten, merely pushed aside to deal with the more pressing problem. Kuroo was almost completely helpless, unable to summon even an ounce of power to be able to shift back into a human form that would still be weak but stronger than the small cat he was currently.

 

“You’re awake.”  Kuroo struggled with the words for a moment.  The language was familiar but the dialect so different than what he had been used to.  He had travelled away from the cities, hoping it would be safer for him that way. He had been wrong.  The man continued about his business, clearly not expecting a response as he dropped a couple logs by the fireplace before turning over the fish.  He continued to speak, voice a low timber that somehow made Kuroo’s shoulders loosen.

 

Kuroo worried it was some kind of coercion magic at first but he tossed that thought aside quickly.  He felt no power, not even a hint of green magic in the man's body. It still didn’t explain why Kuroo felt himself relaxing.  He didn’t trust humans and even if this one didn’t have any magic within him he was still broad shouldered and rough looking. In Kuroo’s current state he was completely vulnerable.

 

Perhaps the man was an idiot.  Kuroo could deal with that. For who saw an injured cat with a split tail and took them into their home instead of immediately killing them for what they were?  The man most likely just thought he was a simple cat who had been attacked by some other animal. Kuroo could play the part of harmless pet if it meant giving him a safe place to heal and recuperate.  It would sting his dignity but afterwards he could easily kill the stupid man before hunting down those who had thought him easy prey.

 

The man shared his fish with Kuroo as confirmed his own plans to himself.  For his kindness this human would die swiftly. The others wouldn’t be so lucky.

 

Time passed slowly and the man, Sawamura Daichi, proved himself to be just as simple-minded as Kuroo had assumed he was.  He was a farmer, working a sizable plot behind his hut. He was a good fisherman too, though a poor excuse for a hunter. He was too soft hearted to kill even the critters who fed from his crops.  It seemed there was a small village nearby, countless people came to see Sawamura and take advantage of his stupidity. They took his crops, beginning and bemoaning about their own bad fortune. They had him complete tasks they were more than capable of doing themselves, but Sawamura was strong and young and an idiot so he helped them without question.  He even seemed content to do so, as if they weren’t asking too much from him and giving him nothing in return.

 

Kuroo detested humans, always had.  It wasn’t enough that they were cruel to the things they didn’t understand like Kuroo’s own kind but they showed that same cruelty, that same thoughtlessness towards each other.  The few good ones, and they were truly a rare breed, were always taken advantage of. They died poor and forgotten or lived long enough to become as nasty as those who used them.

 

One day Sawamura stumbled into the hut, a cloth darkly stained was wrapped around his hand that he cradled close to his chest.  An older man walked behind Sawamura, brow deeply furrowed. Kuroo resisted the urge to skitter into a dark corner, sudden movement would only draw attention to himself.

 

Kuroo still had a difficult time with the dialect differences, he hadn’t tried very hard to understand all the things Sawamura told him.  He only caught the general tone of the conversation. Sawamura apologizing profusely even as he swayed on his feet, the older man looked frustrated.  He cut Sawamura off and stormed out of the hut.

 

Sawamura leaned against the wall before sliding down, his breathing was coming out in short pain filled gasps.  His hand was shaking as he unwound the cloth, revealing a deep cut that was still bleeding profusely.

 

It was a perfect example of why Kuroo looked down on humans.  Sawamura had gone to help his neighbor, who had come over at the crack of dawn and demanded Sawamura assist him even though Sawamura had plenty of work on his own farm to do.  Now he was injured and the neighbor was only concerned with his unfinished work.

 

Kuroo could move more freely now, though the wound through his torso was still a long way from fully healed.  He leaned against Sawamura’s ankle because it seemed like a thing a cat might do. Sawamura’s usually sun kissed skin had an unhealthy ashy tone to it and his eyes were glazed over with pain.

 

“Sorry,” Sawamura apologized again, dark brown eyes looking down at Kuroo.  He said more, something about food as if that was what Kuroo wanted.

 

Sawamura carefully bound his injured hand before feeding the both of them.  Kuroo expected Sawamura to sleep after but instead he pushed himself to his feet and went to work on his crops until the sun dipped below the horizon.  He came in looking worse than when he had left, the bandage wrapped around his hand was dripping blood. Sawamura fell into bed without making his last meal of the day, which had no happened in the time that Kuroo had been there.  He fell into a fitful sleep and Kuroo watched from beside the bed.

 

Kuroo had regained some power back but he still had a long journey ahead of him to full recovery.  Staying in the small hut, being fed regularly and not having to fend for himself out in the forest while worrying about hunters helped in that recovery.  Healing magic was beyond Kuroo’s abilities, otherwise he would have healed himself to begin with but he could smell the infection taking place in Sawamura’s hand.

 

The human was already shivering violently, sweating profusely as he tried to curl up into the smallest ball he could make.  Left untreated as it was there was a fair chance that Sawamura would die, that the small hut would be taken away from Kuroo.

 

Still, Sawamura was young and hardy.  He would most likely fight off the infection if he put some ointment on the wound the next day.  It mattered very little to Kuroo whether the human was injured or not, just how it affected Kuroo’s own recovery process.  He would not use the little magic he had managed to gather to heal an infection caused by the humans own stupidity.

 

For several days Kuroo watched as Sawamura’s health steadily declined.  He could feel his own frustration rising. Humans were so pathetically weak as to be killed off by something so simple.  Sawamura had visited the village healer but only came back empty handed with a deep frown etched into his face. Sawamura had completely redone the healers roof only a month prior and she couldn’t give him some salve for his hand to fight the infection?

 

Sawamura continued to work his farm, coming back to the small hut dripping sweat and passing out before he had even eaten or undressed.  The one day Sawamura did not come back. Kuroo watched the sun disappear over the horizon, night quickly swallowing the farm that was surrounded on all sides by forest.

 

Kuroo padded out on soft feet, leaving the hut for the first time in what felt like a lifetime but was only two months since he had arrived.  His torso ached with each step but he no longer minded the constant pain. It kept his plan for revenge fresh in his mind but in order to see that plan through he needed his little human farmer to survive the night so Kuroo could recuperate faster.

 

If Kuroo’s tails had been fully grown once more they would be flicking angrily behind him as he sat near Sawamura’s collapsed form.  Kuroo could leave the human there to die, he had been planning to kill Sawamura after he was fully healed anyways. Kuroo was healed enough that he could survive out in the forest, night held no problems for a creature such as himself.

 

Things were simpler with Sawamura alive.  Kuroo had a warm place to sleep, he was fed several times a day and nothing was required of him.  Sawamura never tried to do something as foolish as pick Kuroo up, he only pet Kuroo when he came close enough to allow the human to do so, and he even let Kuroo take up a portion of the bed while they slept at night.

 

It would be inconvenient, Kuroo thought as he shifted into his two legged form, for Sawamura to die now.  It was an odd sensation, to be in his human-seeming form once again. He stretched out the little aches and pains that came with shifting when he was weak and after having stayed in his cat form for so long.  Kuroo dragged Sawamura back to the hut by his ankles, not taking care one way or another at any additional harm he was causing. Sawamura brought it upon himself, he was just lucky that he fell unconscious so close to the hut or Kuroo would most likely have just left him there.

 

Kuroo left Sawamura by the door before kneeling down to unwrap his damaged hand.  His nose wrinkled in disgust as the smell of rot and infection hit him once more. The skin of his hand looked horrendous.  Sawamura had tried several herbs, even tried taking a heated blade to it but nothing had helped. It would most likely never heal correctly but Kuroo reminded himself that it didn’t matter.  He just needed Sawamura to live long enough so Kuroo could heal in relative safety, then the man would die like so many others of his foolish kind.

 

Removing the infection took more time and effort than Kuroo had initially thought.  He had no other reference point, no past experience to draw from so it was all guess work.  He could feel the small well of magic he had been gathering drain almost completely by the time he was done.  Sawamura had whimpered and shivered through the whole thing.

 

Kuroo rewrapped the hand with a clean bandage, only because he did not want all his work to go to waste by allow another infection to set in.  He tossed a blanket over Sawamura’s body but left him where he laid on the floor before collapsing into the bed himself. He deserved the bed after all he had done.

 

Kuroo slept solidly through the night, only waking when the front door opened.  He rolled his head to peer across the hut as Sawamura strode in. He was in clean clothing that was sticking to his slightly damp skin, in his hand a basket that Kuroo could smell fish from.  Sawamura’s eyes locked on Kuroos and he smiled before making his way over to start a fire to cook the fish.

 

It was when Kuroo started to stretch that he realized he had made a crucial mistake.  He switched forms without truly thinking about it before backing himself as far away from Sawamura as he could get.  Yet Sawamura only spared a quick glance at him before taking the fish out of the basket. He must have already cut and cleaned them outside for he simply skewered them before sticking them into the growing fire.

 

Kuroo’s heart thundered in his chest making the wound in his torso throb with each frantic beat.  But as it had the first time Kuroo had met Sawamura, his lack of reaction calmed Kuroo even as he thought of a way out, planned his escape.  Sawamura still looked ill, he had yet to regain his coloring and he carefully cradled his injured hand close to his chest. His movements were a bit sluggish, his eyes unfocusing before he visibly shook himself to regain control.  Even so, Kuroo was in a much weaker state after he had used his saved powers to pull out the infection from the human. He was vulnerable once more, left at the mercy of this human who must not have been as simple minded as Kuroo had assumed he was.

 

Kuroo settled on leaving after they were done eating.  Sawamura would leave once again to see to his crops and Kuroo could sneak out without being spotted.  Living in the forest would be difficult but not impossible, Kuroo could gather strength and then hunt down those who had hunted them.

 

That was how it transpired for many days after revealing himself to be more than a simple cat.  Kuroo always found an excuse not to leave, there was a fierce storm raging outside one night and the next Kuroo wasn’t feel well, even though everyone knew Yokai could not catch illnesses the same way humans could.  It never seemed a good time to leave and after a while Kuroo admitted there wasn’t much reason to.

 

Sawamura fought off the last dredges of his self brought upon sickness, his hand was healing slowly and he often times reopened the wound seeing to his own land or helping the selfish villagers who gave nothing in return.  Kuroo’s power returned steadily, the ache of his wound leaving nothing but a thin silvery scar right above his heart.

 

Kuroo still couldn’t work out the reason behind Sawamura’s seemingly selfless actions.  He never asked for anything from anyone, even Kuroo who took up Sawamura’s bed and ate his food.  He seemed perfectly content with his day to day life, seeing to his own crops and assisting anyone that came to him for help.  It was unnatural and made Kuroo highly suspicious. 

 

Was Sawamura touched in the head?  Perhaps that was why he acted as he did, he was that simple-minded.  Why else would the human allow a known yokai to stay in his home? What other reason would Sawamura put his own personal needs behind everyone else's even though it was quite obvious they only cared about what Sawamura could do for them and little else.  It was the only explanation that Kuroo could understand and he had no problem taking advantage of a simple minded fool.

Kuroo was only staying for his own comfort and it would only be a short while more until he was fully healed and could finally seek his revenge.  There was no other reason than that.


End file.
